TIFF '24: "Grand Tour" confirms Miguel Gomes has the Magic Touch

by Cláudio Alves

Some directors wish to transcend the artform they practice. Watching their creations, one senses a force pressing upon you, pushing toward a prescribed and somewhat contradicting immersion. Their hands are forever busy, guiding the viewer away from the theater, from their awareness of the cinematic device. Such artists want you to forget you're watching a film. They beckon surrender, but not to cinema. Instead it's to their story, their vision, sometimes their message. And there's nothing wrong with this approach. But there's nothing right either, not necessarily. I know I fell in love with cinema because of its particularities, not in spite of them. So, I don't wish to forget or abstract myself from the lot. Maybe that's why I adore the cinema of Miguel Gomes as I do. 

Regard his filmography and you may realize he is the antithesis of those other cineastes. Moreover, Gomes is all the better for it. If you want proof, look no further than Grand Tour, for which the Portuguese filmmaker won a well-deserved Best Director prize at Cannes…

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Best International Film: Meet the Portuguese Finalists

by Cláudio Alves

THE BURITI FLOWER is one of Portugal's five finalists.

As the Best International Film Oscar race starts to take shape, the Portuguese Academy has begun the process of choosing the country's official submission. This year's selection committee was composed of nine individuals, all of whom work in the Portuguese film industry. The group ranged from directors to a distributor, encompassing actors, producers, a writer, and even a cinematographer. They include Cristèle Alves Meira, the Listen director who won gold two years ago in Venice; Luís Gaivão Teles, whose documentation of the 1974 Revolution is a precious historical artifact; and DP José Tiago whose filmography contains the Meryl Streep-led The House of the Spirits and our first-ever Oscar submission, Manhã Submersa. 

They have selected five features in hopes of breaking Portugal's unfortunate record, but it's now up to the Portuguese Academy membership to vote on the final choice. Will we stop being the country with the most submissions without a single nomination? Oh well, hope is everlasting. In any case, let's meet the finalists…

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Cannes 2024: Coppola and Cronenberg in Competition

by Cláudio Alves

Early this morning, journalists congregated around Thierry Frémaux for the announcement of the 77th Cannes Film Festival Official Selection. The director shared titles from various sections, confirming some suspected rumors and setting the world of cinephilia abuzz. As ever, the main focus is on the Competition titles, as the next Palme d'Or may be among the films already announced. But of course, a project or two are usually added before the festivities start at the Croisette, so our champion may remain in mystery. Many predicted Audrey Diwan's Emmanuelle remake to be selected, for instance, but the Happening director was notoriously absent from today's dispatch.

In the past few years, The Film Experience has had two parallel coverages, and we hope to keep the tradition. There's Elisa Giudici on the ground, reviewing new films through her festival diary. And then there's my Cannes at Home project, focused on past projects by the competing auteurs. Let's go down the list…

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Cannes at Home: Day 8

by Cláudio Alves 

What an exciting day to be at Cannes this must have been. Asghar Farhadi unveiled a new picture to critical acclaim, with some even stating that A Hero is his greatest work since A Separation. In the main competition, Julia Ducournau also presented her sophomore feature, Titane. After Raw, the new film seems like it will continue the director's exploration on the limits of body horror. As for some sidebar prospects, Miguel Gomes opened his latest work in the Director's Fortnight. The Tsugua Diaries was co-directed with Maureen Fazendeiro and represents Gomes' first feature since Arabian Nights. Unfortunately, another project called Savagery remains incomplete since the pandemic forced the production to halt. In any case, for our homebound Cannes alternative, let's explore the past and best works from these filmmakers…

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We Can't Wait! #15: Arabian Nights

Team Experience is counting down our 15 most anticipated for 2015. Here's Amir...

Who & What: This is Portuguese auteur Miguel Gomes’s first feature film since 2012’s Tabu. It is based on the Middle Eastern folklore collection, "One Thousand and One Nights". The original text has a framing device involving the Persian princess Shahrzad, narrating the 1,001 tales to her husband, King Shahryar. Modernised to take place in today’s Portugal, hit by the economic crisis, Gomes’s film will see the princess narrating fictionalized versions of factual stories about the financial pains of the Portuguese. We’ve seen some pictures, heard a lot of promising words from Gomes about his approach and the structure, and know the film clocks at a whopping 6 hours and 37 minutes.

Why We’re Excited About It: Gomes. Gomes. Gomes. He is one of the most exciting directors working today and has made consistently intriguing films since his first short, Entretanto. He built a fan base with 2008’s Our Beloved Month of August on the festival circuit and found more traction four years later with his sensational romantic masterpiece, Tabu. Since then, he has made another short film, the wild, experimental political comedy, Redemption. For Arabian Nights, he’s reunited with the strikingly handsome Carlota Cotta and is working with Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s regular cinematographer. I’m personally further excited by the prospect of an adaptation of Middle Eastern folklore, since that hasn’t happened in decades – and no, Prince of Persia doesn’t count.

Carlota Cotta (and Ana Moreira) in "Tabu" an earlier collaboration with GomesWhat If It All Goes Wrong? Looking back at Gomes’s earlier work, assures that there's little to worry about in this regard. The biggest concern is the running time. The film is broken into three sections: The Restless, The Desolate and The Enchanted, which could mean they will be released separately. Then again, if they are released as one package… 6 hours and 37 minutes? We love you Miguel but you’ll be testing our patience.

When: The Portuguese release date is set for October. Gomes premiered Tabu in Berlin, but that ship has already sailed. Cannes is the likeliest destination at the moment, which, combined with the domestic release date, gives a glimmer of hope that it'll play at TIFF in the fall.